The legal battle in Hollywood between screen writers and various talent agencies moved towards a resolution with International Creative Management agreeing to pay $4.5 million in order to settle an age-discrimination suit.

As many as 12 talent agencies in Hollywood besides several broadcast networks and studios have been sued since 2000 for carrying out discriminatory practices on the basis of age. Screen writers over forty have charged the television industry of bypassing them in favor of scribes who were younger.

The suit against International Creative Management is the first among 23 class action cases to be resolved. The $4.5 million monetary settlement represents around 3 to 4 percent of the total damages being claimed in all the cases filed by the screenwriters.

Besides paying damages, ICM has agreed to have its representation practices evaluated by an independent panel. It would also be participating in a “job relief program” developed to promote the top 25 percent of the older writers on the basis of a neutral examination of scripts.

The lawsuits which were filed initially in a US court but later shifted to a California court, include 150 named plaintiffs but covers as many as 10,000 writers. The litigation accuses Studios and broadcast networks of unfairly typecasting older writers as being out of sync with current trends. Talent agencies were also charged of adding to such discrimination by preventing the writers from getting referrals and references in the industry.

Electronic voting machines equipped with expensive technology are being rejected by several state governments in the US. The machines which have cost as much as $5000 a piece have been held for various lapses like vanishing votes and a vulnerability to hacking.

State officials in the US have shelved plans of putting the new age electronic voting machines capable of touch screen operations in the manner of ATM machines. The latest voting machines were acquired by 30 states at a cost of $253 million after the disputed 2000 presidential recount. the Congress had approved a budget of $ 3 billion in order to phase out the punch card system and lever operated voting machines.

However the new voting machines were soon thought to exhibit several problems like loss of votes and frequent breakdowns. Besides being prone to malfunctions, the new machines also displayed a greater vulnerability to getting hacked. This has prompted many states like California, Ohio and Florida to shelve the use of the new voting machines.

Even the general public seems to have reservations about using the touch screen voting machines. Over the past couple of years the percentage of registered voters ready to vote on the new machines has dropped from 44 to 36 and is further likely to fall in the upcoming presidential elections.

Almost two weeks into the Games Beijing’s’ hospitality industry continues to grapple with low occupancy rates as many believe excessively tight security has kept tourists away.

Beijing’s hoteliers had expected to hit good times with the city hosting the 2008 Olympic Games. Accordingly they had invested large amounts in refurbishing the hotels and providing up-to-date facilities like wireless internet connectivity. The management had hiked the hotel rates as much as three or four times on expectations of high tourist influx which would have helped them to recover their investments and make profits.

However, most of the five and four star hotels in Beijing are hosting fewer visitors than initially expected. Midway into the Games, only 77.6 percent of Beijing’s 23300 five-star hotels are filled while less than half of the 34,500 four-star hotels are occupied. Data from Beijing’s Tourism Bureau further reveal that more than 60 percent of rooms in the city’s three star or lower hotels are running empty.

One of the major reasons for the drop in occupancy rates is the tight security in Beijing which has made it difficult for tourists from other countries to visit the city. Another cause is the decline in domestic business travelers who are staying away from Beijing because of various restrictions related to the ongoing Olympic Games.

Obesity rates are on the rise in every part of the US, says a joint report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America’s Health. What comes as worse news is that obesity is costing the nation $258 per person every year.

The report has been tracking America’s obesity rate for the last five years and says that in 2007 adult obesity rates rose in 37 states and did not decline in any. Mississippi, Alabama and Virginia are the worst off with an adult obesity rate of thirty percent. Colorado, on the other hand, turned out to be the leanest state and the only one where the adult obesity rate was below twenty percent.

The report blames federal, state as well as local government policies for half-hearted attempts at curbing obesity among both adults and children. The study predicts that if the current obesity rates continue then by 2015 as many as 75 percent of Americans will become overweight by clinical standards.

Among the primary reasons for the rising trend in adult obesity rates are lifestyle patterns like longer work hours, longer commutes, an “electronic” entertainment culture and lesser physical recreation. Economic reasons like non-inclusion of obesity in health coverage, high cost of gym membership and unavailability of standard grocery shops in poor neighborhoods are also contributing to rising obesity. Added to all this is the aggressive marketing policy carried out by junk food companies which render both adults and children vulnerable to poor eating choices.

US presidential candidates seem to have found in NASA another ground for political one-upmanship. Both Obama and McCain have been trying to outdo the other in a show of support, financial and political.

On Sunday, Democrat presidential nominee Sen. Barak Obama pledged a whopping $ 2 billion to revamp the US space agency, NASA and make space exploration a top priority if he gets elected as the president. The comprehensive space plan outlined by Obama includes sending of US astronauts to the moon by 2020 and later to the Mars. At the same time he did not forget to criticize the Bush administration for bringing in administration policies which would reportedly make America dependant on foreign rockets for five years after 2010.

While GOP nominee Sen. John McCain did not directly respond to Obama’s claims, he questioned the reliability of Obama’s position considering that latter had previously opposed funding for NASA in the replacement Constellation spaceship program. Although McCain has continued to advocate US superiority in international space missions and has opposed any cuts in NASA funding, he has spoken in mostly general terms and not made any specific commitments.

The US space agency is looking for generous funding from the next president as it not only needs to make up for costs incurred after the Columbia disaster but also needs to replace its aging shuttle program with the new Constellation spaceship system.